A few years ago I decided to season my new wok. It was early in the morning, but still after my husband had left for work and before I had taken the dog for our morning adventure around the neighborhood.
My wok was happily seasoning away in the oven — or so I thought. Suddenly, the integrated home smoke alarm went off with more force than a tornado siren, and I had firemen at my door. (Did I mention I was still in my PJs?)
Too bad I didn't have one of these little birds; it would have saved me serious embarrassment that day.
This funny little bird is designed to give you a loud tweet and chirp when things get a little too hot in the kitchen. Think of it as your security system before the major alarms go off and you have to open windows and bust out the towels to fan the ceiling.
We talked about it many years ago over at Apartment Therapy, but since then it has been winning Dutch design awards and receiving extreme praise from insurance companies across the globe (and lowering rates!). Plus, the battery lasts a year and a half — sweet!
Although it's easy to think that this is superfluous, it might be great in a home with children who are learning the ropes in the kitchen — or for anyone with a built-in building smoke detector that might wake up the neighbors. It's pretty cute and sometimes it would be nice to know you made a mistake (like my great disaster mentioned above), before your entire oven goes up in flames.
• Find it: Smoke Detector Chick-a-Dee, $70USD at design3000
Related: Survey: Do You Disable Your Smoke Alarm When You Cook?
(Image: design3000)
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Can I buy a post-smoke smoke detector? One that will beep when there's honest-to-goodness fire instead of every time I try to make a decent pizza?
Or instead of every time I run the clothes dryer!!
Oh good, it seems I'm not the only one whose smoke detectors are far too sensitive. Even the toaster [set to lightly brown] sets it off. I almost want to try one of these to see which alarm will sound first.
Ohmygooood, I want to rip mine out the ceiling! Same problem as all of you, I don't think I've once had a legitimate amount of smoke to set the darn thing off, but 2 seconds into cooking anything with the vent still blasting on high, there goes the alarm. It's beyond frustrating. How have we hit a modern age where we can seemingly do anything, but smoke alarms are still pieces of garbage? If there ever WAS a fire, god forbid, I'd probably ignore the silly thing thinking its being stupid as usual!
My folks have a BnB with full guest kitchen. They also have residential units. I think this is a great idea for both!
Glad to see I'm not the only one with the aforementioned issue. For me, it's every time I open the oven door while it's on. No matter what temperature. Sigh.
God forbid I ever make bacon in a skillet. My smoke detector sits in the hallway outside the kitchen and still goes off every time I forget to turn on the vent hood.
My apartment building has 20 units, and if anyone sets off their smoke detector, they ALL go off - until the fire department arrives. I think this is a fabulous idea. (I wish the guy next door would get one... he's a terrible cook :/)